Accidental Road Trip

A couple of weeks ago, Gary happened to catch one of the mission presidents we have been looking for at home and he agreed to do an oral history.  Gary set up a time for me to call him back to do the "pre-interview" phone call and set up time for the actual interview.  Gary mentioned to me that the mission president had said that they don't really do Zoom so probably we will do a phone interview with him.  That is fine, of course.  As it happened, I had to call the former mission president from a parking lot after a clinical meeting in Provo for Ben, so Gary wasn't around when this phone call took place.

We talked briefly and then the mission president said, "Your husband said that you could interview us in person and we think we would prefer that.  Can you do that?"  News to me but I am flexible so I thought fast, said sure, and set a time for us to meet with them....in person....in Boise, Idaho...which is about 5 hours away and clearly outside the 60 mile radius of our mission, but after all, Gary had said we could....

It turned out that Gary had said that we could ARRANGE for someone to interview them in person--an area Church History advisor could be asked to follow up for us. Oops....it was set for Tuesday, June 8th, so we got the needed permissions and Monday, we headed off on a 

-----ROAD TRIP---

if you know me, you know I love road trips so I was excited.  The three of us left Monday at noon and drove to Boise and got in our hotel just in time to set up and listen to our mission fireside with Matt Grow, the managing director of the Church History Library--which was excellent.

Selfie as Gary set up the fireside on the TV--

then...determined not to eat at any national chain, we found this Chinese-American restaurant called "Joy Garden" and enjoyed Sweet and Sour Pork and other yummy food (with plenty to have for lunch the next day at the hotel.)

Monday night Idaho sunset---

Tuesday, we attended another mission meeting through Zoom in the morning, ate our Chinese food for lunch, and then prepared for our oral history interview.

In addition to being part of a road trip, this was the first interview that we were able to do in-person.  No photos, but trust me, you wish that you could have been there to hear this sweet former mission president and his wife talk about their service and their lives.  To be in their home and to talk about tender and holy things was such a privilege.  Both Gary and I feel it was the right thing for us to have done--to be there in person.  They served in the mid-1980s and now are in their 80s with many, many health problems.  Even after the interview we stayed and talked more with them about their lives, their joys and hobbies.  (For example, they live on a golf course and over several years of him collecting golf balls ended up having over 20,000 of them which he sold to a local golf shop.  He says searching for them makes his morning walks more enjoyable.)  I loved it.  The spirit they had in the middle of their health challenges was amazing.  We were so blessed.

We mentioned to them that we were going to stop at the Boise Temple on the way out and they reminded us about the Meridian Temple which was just five minutes away so we made that detour as we began our journey home to Salt Lake.

The Meridian Temple--very unique and striking building

It overlooks a valley which is located to the north west of Boise.

As is common these days, the temple shares its parking lot with a stake center.  Between the rows of parking, there were red roses planted.  It was very striking, especially if you like red roses like me and it is summer time when they are in bloom.

Next stop:  The Boise Temple

I hadn't looked at pictures before we left--just googled the address, but immediately when I saw it, it stirred memories of the Dallas Temple---one of my favorite temples.

And sure enough, it was built around the same time as the Dallas Temple---

It was hard to get a picture of the whole temple because of the design.

The west part of the temple where the patrons enter and exit the building.

A rest stop to change clothes after wearing our formal "missionary clothes" for the oral history and look it had a marker for the Oregon Trail which of course follows along the Snake River in this area.  We didn't go to the indicated spot to see the ruts.  That will be another trip when we finish our Oregon Trail journey from Wyoming to Oregon.

We actually passed the Twin Falls Temple on the way to the Shoshone Falls.  Although the water levels are low this year and they are controlling the amount of water going down the river, it was still pretty and the sounds of the waterfall were magical--next to ocean waves, I think water falls are one of my favorite nature sounds.

You can see that over half of the water fall area has no water---people there told us that we needed to come back to really see this pretty waterfall---

You can't see it but people toss coins at that rock and try to land on the top of it.  I wonder how many coins are at the bottom of the river...

The Snake River to the west of the falls

These "locals" were telling us some of the facts and figures of the area and the people who work in the electrical plant attached to the dams.

Back to take pictures at the Twin Falls Temple---

With afternoon visit and the stops on the way home, we didn't get into our apartment until 11:30 pm.  We were tired, but happy.  It was a good trip and it was fun to be together.

Uhm...I wonder where our next "accidental road trip" will be???  (Just kidding, Gary---60 miles radius of the mission next time!)